The unfortunate Chris Huhne

DIANE ABBOTT

Sunday, February 05, 2012

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" is an old saying. But one senior British politician had reason to remember it as he felt obliged to step down from office last week.

Chris Huhne was a brilliant journalist, politician and businessman. He graduated from Oxford with a first-class degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and went on to have a career as a financial journalist. In 1994 he founded one of the largest teams of economists in the City of London. The business was reputed to have made him a millionaire several times over.

He became a member of the European Parliament before being elected to the British Parliament in 2005. His rise up the political ladder then went into overdrive. In 2007, he contested for the leadership of his party and came within a hair's breadth of winning. And after the 2010 general election Huhne became a Cabinet minister in the new coalition Government.

But then things started to go wrong. Soon after he got his Cabinet position he announced that he was leaving his wife of 25 years, and the mother of his three children, economist Vicky Price. To say that his wife was upset is probably an understatement. The fact that he went off with his much younger press officer must have made things worse.

His wife said that she was completely shocked to hear about the affair. She also said that he told her that their marriage was over during the half-time break of a televised World Cup match before immediately going to his study to write a press statement. She is apparently writing a book about the break-up of the marriage.

But worse was to happen. Last year, stories began to emerge in the press that he had lied about a speeding offence many years ago by claiming that someone else was driving the car at the time. Huhne emphatically denied any wrongdoing. But the rumours would not go away. His wife appeared to confirm, in an oblique way, that someone else had taken responsibility.

Then newspapers began to allege that it was his wife that he had convinced to take responsibility for the offence. His wife has never confirmed or denied this. But it is not hard to imagine that, for an unhappy ex-wife, the damaging rumours would not have been unwelcome.

But the whole saga has taken an unhappy twist. The Metropolitan Police have decided to charge both the Cabinet minister and his ex-wife with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. If his ex-wife had anything to do with newspaper stories alleging that she took responsibility for his speeding offence, she must now be wondering if it was such a good idea. She could never have anticipated that the whole saga would end with her being charged.

As for the unfortunate Mr Huhne, after a glittering career he is now facing a criminal trial and the end of his political hopes. And it all went wrong for him when he left his wife for a younger woman. He will have plenty of time to contemplate this in the months to come.